Another retired army general is believed to be joining the opposition Puea Thai Party as the red shirts reiterated their plan to topple the Abhisit Vejjajiva coalition government.
Chongsak Phanitchakul has resigned as head of the advisory team to the defence minister and is planning to move into politics, said an army source.
Gen Chongsak, who has successfully encouraged former deputy army chief Gen Jiradet Khotcharat to join the pro-Thaksin camp, has been invited by Puea Thai chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to become a member of the party.
Gen Chongsak, whose son-in-law Sakolthee Phatthiyakul is a Democrat MP, has neither dismissed nor confirmed the speculation.
He said only that he was considering entering politics and joining a major party. "I've been a friend of Thaksin Shinawatra since Montfort College in Chiang Mai to pre-cadet school.
"I was in Class 9 and he was in Class 10," he said. "I was the one who gave him [Thaksin] the nickname Maew."
He confirmed he has close ties with Gen Chavalit and has been invited by Puea Thai to join the party. However, several more parties had approached him for the same purpose.
Gen Chongsak said it is time for political reconciliation, or further bloodshed would result.
He said he believed Thaksin wanted talks as a way out of political conflict and he was ready to be a mediator. More than 100 former army officials have joined Puea Thai, including Gen Panlop Pinmanee.
Natthawut Saikua, a leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, confirmed its ultimate goal is to topple the government. However, he said, only peaceful means would be employed to achieve that goal.
The UDD would decide after Jan 15 its plans for its next mass rally against the government.
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